Bear Lake Regional Park
Bear Lake Regional Park (Traditional Chinese: 連熊湖區域公園; French: Parc régionale de Lac d'Ours) is a regional park located near the centre of the City of Mapleview in Gravenhurst Region in the Imaginary Lands of Nicholas. Bear Lake is the latest-established regional park as of April 2009. The park was opened to the public and assigned as a regional park as of April 2, 2009. It covers approximately 6 squared kilometers. The park is named after, and centred around Bear Lake. The park is the second smallest regional park in all of Gravenhurst Region, behind Niagara Conservation Area. In accordance to the name change approved by the Mapleview City Council, effective on 1 March 2014, the Chinese name of the regional park has been modified to 連熊湖區域公園 (lit. Benco Lin's Lake Regional Park). The former Chinese name was 熊湖區域公園 (lit. Bear Lake Regional Park). History Bear Lake was formerly a famous city park for the City of Mapleview prior to 2009. The park was first established back in 1941, when Mapleview is just a small town. The park was maintained by the city until 2009. On March 27, 2008, the King visited the park, and commented that the park was beautiful and has a lot of potential of becoming a major tourist spot in the region. On November 11, 2008, the parliament in Archemedes discussed the possibility of making Bear Lake into a regional park based on the King's commentary. The Act of Bear Lake Regional Park passed on December 4, 2008, and on April 2, 2009, the park was transferred to the regional government. The region currently have plans in mind to make the spot a major tourist attraction in the following 3 years. Future Prospects There are plans to expand Bear Lake Regional Park, and construct a "west wing" of the park. The west wing would be west of Highway 100, and the east wing and the west wing of park will be separated by the Highway, with a footbridge connecting them. The west wing's proposed size would be around 20 squared kilometres, making the entire park to be about 30 squared kilometres. Geography Bear Lake Regional Park is located entirely within the City of Mapleview. It covers the area where Brightvale River and Wayside River joins together to form a bear-head-shaped lake. The park's west end is at the traffic interchange of W.R. Allen Road and Sobeys Road; east end at Marketplace Road, south end at Wayside Avenue, north end at Sobeys Road. Controversy Some residents claim that the King was being courteous to say that the park was beautiful, but actually the park is not as beautiful as he describes. The residents of Bear Lake claim that the new houses build around Bear Lake will ruin the sceneries. As well, by making the locale a tourist attraction will disturb the neighbourhood's peace, as it brings many business into the City. There are also controversials that there is a light rail transit rail through the town. Some are protesting about the light rail, and demand a re-route or restructure of the rail. See also * Guelph Greenbelt Regional Park Category:Regional parks in Gravenhurst Region